Tancoo: Rowley the ‘laziest PM ever’

THE PRIME Minister’s failure to do background checks on an Indian businessman supposedly interested in purchasing the former Petrotrin refinery in Pointe-a-Pierre makes him the “laziest PM ever,” Davendranath Tancoo, MP for Oropouche West, has said.

Tancoo, speaking at the Opposition’s media briefing on July 28, also chided the PM for attacking those who raised concerns about the potential investor, Indian businessman Naveen Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, who is facing corruption charges in India.
The PM and Jindal met at the Diplomatic Centre in June.

At the post-Cabinet media conference on July 26, Rowley described those opposed to the Venezuelan oil being refined at the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery as “idiots” and suggested the “attack” on Jindal would chase other potential investors.

In response, Tancoo said the PM appeared more concerned that questions were raised about the potential investor’s integrity rather than his convictions.

Tancoo rubbished the PM’s claims that he was unaware of the potential investor’s reputation since Energy Minister Stuart Young met with Jindal a year ago.

“Nobody believes that the PM, the Minister of Energy, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (or other) persons involved in that meeting did not Google this investor before or even after the meeting with him.

“Let us not start to talk about the lack of ethics and obvious bias demonstrated by the PM, when the PM promotes his meeting with an investor interested in a refinery, while the (tendering) process…is still live and ongoing.

“But he’s not interested in meeting any of the other potential investors. This has to be the laziest PM ever.

“Ironically,” Tancoo added, “having failed to do his own due diligence, the PM, instead of thanking the UNC and the media for providing important information that he claims he was unaware of, stooped to accuse the Opposition of being obstructionists and deterring foreign investment.”

Tancoo said the PM’s comments might suggest he would have preferred nobody looked into Jindal.

He said it is an “absolute lie to say the UNC is against foreign investments in this country.

“No genuine investor interested in putting their money in TT would be and should be afraid of transparency and accountability.”

On June 23, Rowley said a special committee would be formed “within a month” to evaluate offers from “those who think they could run the refinery and have the means to convince us they are a good fit.

“I expect that by the end of August, the government will be able to say to you, ‘Yes, we have a taker,’ or, ‘No, we have no taker.’”

Tancoo said the country should always remember Rowley broke his promise to Petrotrin workers and citizens by closing the refinery weeks after he said he would not.

Apart from leaving many without jobs, Tancoo said the closure “deprived the country of one of its most valuable, one of the largest foreign exchange-earners.”

Tancoo said Rowley lost his credibility years ago after abusing Parliamentary privilege to make “criminal allegations against Persad-Bissessar, Gary Griffith and others based on (fabricated emails).”

Rowley’s reading of the fake emails in Parliament, he said, was an “obvious attempt to destabilise the (UNC) government.”

Tancoo also accused Rowley of hosting a “secret meeting” with a group of Venezuelans in March 2020 and misleading the country by claiming not to know who the visitors were.

“There were no minutes or notes about what was discussed. No photographs. Nothing,” Tancoo said.

Shortly after a pandemic was declared and borders closed, then Minister of National Security Stuart Young came under fire for granting Venezuela Vice-president Delcy Rodriguez and executives of a Venezuela energy company, PDVSA, permission to visit TT.

In a statement after Rodriguez’s visit, the US embassy said TT’s government violated the then 73-year-old Rio Treaty (also known as the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance).

“Delcy Rodriguez is subject to travel sanctions…binding on all Rio Treaty parties, and TT is a party to the treaty,” the embassy said.

Ambassador to TT Joseph Mondello also issued a rare public comment in May 2020.

“Normally, I do not comment on private conversations with host government officials,” he wrote.

“Since the government has spoken publicly about my May 6 conversation with Minister Young, though, I wish to affirm that I expressed concern to the Minister in that conversation about the consistency of Delcy Rodriguez’s visit to Port of Spain with TT’s obligations as a party to the Rio Treaty.”

Tancoo said the best story the “PNM spin doctors could come up with” was to claim the meeting was related to the pandemic, although neither the Minister of Health nor the Chief Medical Officer was present.

The country should never forget the $500 million contract, signed by the Rowley administration with Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co, which was cancelled shortly after “only because the details of the kinds of concessions and agreements…was revealed to the public by the media,” said Tancoo.

He said the PNM has crippled TT’s local and foreign investment prospects.

Referring to the UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2021 and 2023, he noted that foreign direct investment in TT was negative for five of the seven years of the PNM administration of which data is available.

“We are not taking blame for that, Dr Rowley. You say you are in charge. You are making all the decisions. Stop ducking your responsibilities.”